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Amity Slade · 09-12-2012, 11:22 AM

Foreclosure Fail: Study Pins Blame on Big Banks - ProPublica

Quote:

As a result of banks' disorganization and understaffing — particularly at the peak of the crisis in 2009 and 2010 — homeowners were often forced to run a gauntlet of confusion, delays, and errors when seeking a mortgage modification.

But while evidence of these problems was pervasive, it was always hard to quantify the damage. Just how many more people could have qualified under the administration's mortgage modification program if the banks had done a better job? In other words, how many people have been pushed toward foreclosure unnecessarily?

A thorough study released last week provides one number, and it's a big one: about 800,000 homeowners.

...

Unfortunately for homeowners, most mortgages are handled by banks that haven't been properly staffed and thus have modified far fewer loans. If these worse-performing banks had simply modified loans at the same pace as their better performing peers, then HAMP would have produced about 800,000 more modifications. Instead of about 1.2 million modifications by the end of this year, HAMP would have resulted in about 2 million.

That's still well short of the 3-4 million modifications President Obama promised when he announced the program back in early 2009. But it's a big difference, and a reasonable, basic benchmark against which to compare the program's failings.

The report does not identify these poor performing banks, but it's not hard to ID them. A “few large servicers [have offered] modifications at half the rate of others,” the authors say. The largest mortgage servicers are Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi.

Bank of America in particular (the largest of all the servicers when HAMP launched) has been far slower to modify loans than even the other large servicers, as other analyses we've cited have shown.

Too big to fail, and too big to help.

Quote:

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) paid subsidies to mortgage servicers on the theory that doing so would convince them to embrace modifications. The authors say that voluntary approach apparently didn't have much effect with the biggest servicers. They weren't very good at modifying loans before HAMP was launched and weren't much better after it launched.

The authors wrote that while they can't be sure why these banks underperformed, they “may not have responded to the program since doing so would involve changing their business focus from processing and channeling payments to actively renegotiating loans. In addition, this may have involved significantly altering their organizational capabilities, such as building appropriate infrastructure and hiring and training servicing staff.”

What happens is that the banks get subsidies both for processing the applications, and for making the modifications. However, collecting a $500 subsidy to process a loan, when the bank's only costs are form letters and a rubber stamp, is profit. A $1000 subsidy to pay someone to spend hours to review an application, devise a modification, approve the modification through legal, and execute and monitor the application - well, not as much profit. So the financial incentive of the HAMP program is to process and deny as many applications as possible.

Quote:

Since HAMP's oversight has been lax — the Treasury Department, which runs the program, has responded indulgently to mortgage servicers breaking HAMP's rules — banks haven't had to worry much about their low modification rates.

There is absolutely no penalty for banks to deny applications in bad faith and to break the HAMP rules.

Banks are not forced to participate in the HAMP program- they enter into a contract with the federal government in which they promise to follow the HAMP rules in exchange for the subsidies of the HAMP program. It's up to the government to monitor compliance- and it doesn't. Even if it did, about the worst thing that can happen to a bank if the government does try to enforce the HAMP contract is to exclude the bank from participating in the program.

Ayu Sura · 09-12-2012, 11:32 AM

I. Fucking. Hate. Bank. Of. America.

Zaida Gearbox · 09-12-2012, 11:42 AM

Fortunately, my step-mom has her mortgage through a credit union. So, when my dad died and she needed to modify it went smooth as glass.

Amity Slade · 09-12-2012, 12:45 PM

Though the article I cited places the blame on banks- and they deserve blame for being liars and cheaters robbing families of their homes- let's give credit where credit is due.

HAMP was supposed to be one of the centerpieces to Obama's plan to help struggling families through the economic crisis. The law for which he asked, and a Democrat-controlled Congress gave him, had no enforcement mechanisms. And the Obama Administration has been shoveling out money to big banks without any sort of oversight to make sure the banks are doing their part.

This is one reason I do not get overly excited about the suggestion that Obama and the Democratic Party are great defenders of the poor.

Khamon · 09-12-2012, 02:11 PM

I find your lack of faith disturbing. Barak Obama and the party of Democrats are saving this country from financial ruin while assuring federally mandated educational grants, food coupons, housing supplements, medical benefits, retirement income, and transportation facilities for every single body living within the borders. Give your fear to Congress Amity; they'll render it ineffective before you can say wut/

**Sredni Eel** · 09-12-2012, 05:47 PM

My sob story:

My mortgage has been sold at least once a year since we got this place. In some years it was sold THREE times. So when we went to renegotiate our loan terms, which suck horribly and include a balloon payment that would wipe us out at retirement, we were told, "We won't work with you unless you apply for HAMP"

The problem with this is we live in the SF Bay Area, and most people here make too much money to qualify for HAMP, even though we can't really afford our mortgages (which are insanely high). We applied. The second we did, our mortgage was instantly sold to Ocwen, which is a debt collection company.

Ocwen, if you have never dealt with them, harasses people - even folks who have paid ON TIME every month, like we were doing. We got harassed as we put in our mountain of paperwork through for HAMP. And believe me, it is a true Everest of paperwork you have to deal with. We had to buy a FAX machine just so we wouldn't go broke sending these people all the millions of FAXes they seemed to require. At a minimum, it was 22 pages PER DAY FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK they wanted sent.

Once that paperwork went through, Ocwen said that wasn't good enough. We were told we had to go through the entire process AGAIN.

We did. The entire ordeal lasted NINE MONTHS. Nine months of fighting on the phone, sending in fax after fax (they don't do email or anything technical like that), and god knows what else.

The day after the final fax was sent, we were informed that we made too much money to qualify, which wasn't a surprise to us.

So now we've done the next best thing since our place is worth a solid 35% of what we paid for it eight years ago: We stopped paying our mortgage. It will never be worth what we paid for it, and a short sale just isn't gonna work. We'd still owe far more on the damned place than we could get on a short sale. Then a job was lost, and living on just one income out here is well-nigh impossible unless you're a CEO or something.

We're currently in foreclosure mode, thanks to the banks dragging their feet, and making us jump through hoops to do THEIR jobs for them, in spite of the fact that we never wanted to apply for HAMP. We only wanted to renegotiate our loan terms. That's all.

All we can hope for now is that Ocwen forecloses before 2013, so our debt will be forgiven on our taxes. If not, we're going to be slapped with a $60K-$80K tax bill in 2013. FML. Seriously.

So yeah. No love for Banks, Ocwen, or HAMP. It's not entirely Obama's fault that the program sucks big donkey balls and doesn't work, but honestly, there are far, far, far too many loopholes for the banks with regard to that broken program.

Jack Belvedere · 09-12-2012, 07:04 PM

I totally feel for ya, Sredni. We just went through it too, with fucking Wells Fargo. When I got sick and couldn't work for the unforeseeable future, we tried to get them to tack a few payments to the end of the loan while we reorganized here and got through the crisis. Nope. Didn't qualify for anything, after attempts at them and the government program, so we finally let it foreclose. It took 2 years because of the mortgage lawsuits going on. I even told them at one point, Look, you don't WANT this house. Bad roof, older than God, bad electrical, it's falling apart. We want to keep it, can we just have even two payments deferred? Nope. So they have the lemon, and good luck selling it, and we are living in a fantastic home we all love, a renter's paradise.

Things may look bleak at times, but keep your chin up and realize it really isn't the end of the world, and chances are you're going to be a lot less stressed once it's done and you're settled again without the stress of dealing with banks that treat you like you're vermin.

Kalel · 09-12-2012, 09:38 PM

I don't know or understand much but we are also in a smilar situation and it seems like each day i get another story...

My mom has refinanced 2-3 times so she can attempt pay for the mortgage using her paycheck alone. But we encounter the same issue of them saying she makes too much money.. she applied for HAMP and also tried NACA.

What makes it alittle more trickier for her is that my father decided to take an early retirement and went back to live jamaica so he is not here to sign certain documents

The house for some reason was put under his name and my mom was also telling me about some how he managed to pull out a second mortgage without her acknowledge which he had used to send money to his sister who wouldn't get a job and himself who had lost his job without telling us...

He said he would go back and restart his farm to send us money back but jamaican system has changed allot and he is not the type to think about everything he needs... hes already used up the money he was going to retire with fixing the house he wouldn't sell...it's as if he is looking at another world, another plane of existence....he was very religious type as well.. can't understand why my mom puts up with him.. or even married him in the first place..

our house has been in foreclosure before... wouldn't be surprised if it is now.. but she isn't telling me.

My mom got her current house in miami though bank of america 20 years ago...i grew up here so this is the only house I've known.. i'm doing everything i can to help her pay her other bills,get food,etc etc..but I've got my own debt to worry about and a life that is waiting for me to move on... Yet i really don't want to leave her in this situation...

Also to add the constant reminder from her that she knows i will leave eventually and doesn't mind cause she doing this for her kids and herself...

Lord · 09-12-2012, 10:55 PM

Read this book: AFTERSHOCK : Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown | Home . It is grim, and most likely the 'worst case scenarios' in it won't play out, but, in my opinion, we are far from ending our economic freefall.

Part of this is already playing out in my community...just in the past month the County Board of Commisioners approved of the idea of asking for a 25% increase in property taxes, just to cover the costs of running a county on decimated property tax value digests.

We all know that regardless of who is elected President, income taxes and sales taxes are going to go back up eventually, even though many, even in government jobs, haven't received in the past 4 years., and aren't going to receive anytime in the near future, an increase in pay (and get patronisingly told they should be thankful they have a job at all).

I had my house foreclosed on at the beginning of the whole foreclosure bubble. I was stupid. My wife and I had nice jobs and we both thought it would just continue to get better. Then, in a downsizing move, I lost my job, and had to settle for a lower paying job. About a year later, my wife had an on-the-job accident that cost her a career and made her permanently disabled. We could no longer make mortgage payments and pay the utilities, food, clothing, etc for a family of four. We tried asking for refinance, couldn't get it. We tried to short-sell the home, no one was interested. So, the finance company eventually foreclosed on us.

I vowed I would never go into debt again for a house (or a car) again. We rented for a while, put away what we could, and took a settlement for my wife's injuries from her former employer, and bought outright a home. It was the best move we ever made.

It isn't as nice a home as the one we were paying a mortgage on, but it's ours, and even if the economy takes yet another slump, we won't be paying rent or mortgage, just taxes, on it. It's a very liberating feeling knowing you are out from under that (and yes, we outright own our cars now, too

).

Jura Shepherd · 09-13-2012, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Belvedere

I even told them at one point, Look, you don't WANT this house. Bad roof, older than God, bad electrical, it's falling apart. We want to keep it, can we just have even two payments deferred? Nope.

Yeah they don't care about the house (or you) because it's a numbers game for them. Most home loans are backed, so it's easier to just foreclose and collect. For non-backed stuff, they can show it as a loss, and nearly everyone has already paid a great deal in mortgage payments before being foreclosed on.

In a strictly business sense, I guess it makes sense. The problem is that they have disincentive for doing what makes sense for individuals and communities, and that's what needs to be fixed. I mean really, when I looked at the HAMP thing a while back, I thought: "what'd they do? Just invite their bank buddies to come and write their own laws?".

Anyway, I'm sorry Jack and Sredni and anyone else. I had friends go through this and they we're really struggling emotionally because in their minds, they made a commitment to repay and felt like failures or whatever. I can dig that. I probably would too, but fuck those banks. They'd throw all of us under the bus in a second for a little profit and our government just can't seem to kiss their ass enough. Fuck 'em. I have zero sympathy for banks.

**Sredni Eel** · 09-13-2012, 11:00 PM

The really fun thing regarding my situation is the starting bid for the auction coming up in November is $256K. Comparable places in this building that are actually in good shape, are going for $160K. Our place, with the damage the neighbors caused, as well as the fact that we never had money for basic maintenance, is probably worth way less than the county tax assessed value of $139K.

There is no way Ocwen is going to get what they want for this place. Not unless P.T. Barnum was right.

Jack Belvedere · 09-14-2012, 05:45 AM

Yeah, initially you think the word "failure" a lot, no matter what the circumstances, because most of us are raised with the teachings to pay your bills, shelter your family, etc. but eventually you realize it's not always circumstances you have control over. And also that you attempted to resolve, and they just don't want to. I remember another time trying to work with wells Fargo on it when they double-billed us for a month. They wouldn't admit their error, even when I had my bank fax them statements of them taking two payments that month.

**Sredni Eel** · 09-14-2012, 06:01 PM

Fuck Wells Fargo hard with pointy sticks. Seriously.

I had a checking account with them, and always managed to keep the account over a certain limit so I wouldn't be charged for not having enough money in the bank (!!!?!??!). I had a debit card with them. I could use this debit card to get money and pay for things. It was a pretty good deal until...

There was a day when the ATM in the Bank's actual wall decided to eat my card. I went inside to ask them how I could retrieve my card, or otherwise get a new one. Their response was to immediately lock my account so not only would I have to wait 10-14 days for a new debit card, but I couldn't even go up to a teller and withdraw money. Nor could I write a check for money. I was screwed for those two weeks.

I had to get a loan from my mom so I could buy gas and food that week.

As soon as I got my next paycheck, I opened an account with USAA, then withdrew ALL of what was left in the Wells Fargo account. I actually insisted that they electronically transfer everything to USAA. But they refused, and kept insisting that I keep my account with them. I finally started yelling and demanded a money order made out to USAA, so I could send it to my shiny new credit union.

I had to talk to a teller, a supervisor, and a manager before they'd allow me to close my account, and I told them exactly where they could stick their terrible customer service and their rotten policies. I hate them almost as much as I hate BofA. Almost. BofA actually treated me worse, if you can believe it.

09-12-2012, 11:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
Ayu Sura nom nom nom mommybrained Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: under the sea Posts: 5,601 My Mood:	I. Fucking. Hate. Bank. Of. America. __________________ "You broke the rules! Now I pull out all your pubic hair!" - Tenacious D

09-12-2012, 02:11 PM	#5 (permalink)
Khamon Aspiring Harpist *SLU Supporter* Thumbs Up Sweetie Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Alabama Posts: 9,203 My Mood: SL Join Date: November, 2003 Blog Entries: 1	I find your lack of faith disturbing. Barak Obama and the party of Democrats are saving this country from financial ruin while assuring federally mandated educational grants, food coupons, housing supplements, medical benefits, retirement income, and transportation facilities for every single body living within the borders. Give your fear to Congress Amity; they'll render it ineffective before you can say wut/ __________________ A Journey Through the World of Lever Harping

09-12-2012, 05:47 PM	#6 (permalink)
Sredni Eel Lizard of Speed and Time *SLU Supporter* RAR, dammit! Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Nobuddy cumz in here. Sekrit. Posts: 6,396 My Mood: SL Join Date: Sept. 2007 Business: Avatar Bizarre Client: Crash-o-Matic 2.0 Blog Entries: 25	My sob story: My mortgage has been sold at least once a year since we got this place. In some years it was sold THREE times. So when we went to renegotiate our loan terms, which suck horribly and include a balloon payment that would wipe us out at retirement, we were told, "We won't work with you unless you apply for HAMP" The problem with this is we live in the SF Bay Area, and most people here make too much money to qualify for HAMP, even though we can't really afford our mortgages (which are insanely high). We applied. The second we did, our mortgage was instantly sold to Ocwen, which is a debt collection company. Ocwen, if you have never dealt with them, harasses people - even folks who have paid ON TIME every month, like we were doing. We got harassed as we put in our mountain of paperwork through for HAMP. And believe me, it is a true Everest of paperwork you have to deal with. We had to buy a FAX machine just so we wouldn't go broke sending these people all the millions of FAXes they seemed to require. At a minimum, it was 22 pages PER DAY FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK they wanted sent. Once that paperwork went through, Ocwen said that wasn't good enough. We were told we had to go through the entire process AGAIN. We did. The entire ordeal lasted NINE MONTHS. Nine months of fighting on the phone, sending in fax after fax (they don't do email or anything technical like that), and god knows what else. The day after the final fax was sent, we were informed that we made too much money to qualify, which wasn't a surprise to us. So now we've done the next best thing since our place is worth a solid 35% of what we paid for it eight years ago: We stopped paying our mortgage. It will never be worth what we paid for it, and a short sale just isn't gonna work. We'd still owe far more on the damned place than we could get on a short sale. Then a job was lost, and living on just one income out here is well-nigh impossible unless you're a CEO or something. We're currently in foreclosure mode, thanks to the banks dragging their feet, and making us jump through hoops to do THEIR jobs for them, in spite of the fact that we never wanted to apply for HAMP. We only wanted to renegotiate our loan terms. That's all. All we can hope for now is that Ocwen forecloses before 2013, so our debt will be forgiven on our taxes. If not, we're going to be slapped with a $60K-$80K tax bill in 2013. FML. Seriously. So yeah. No love for Banks, Ocwen, or HAMP. It's not entirely Obama's fault that the program sucks big donkey balls and doesn't work, but honestly, there are far, far, far too many loopholes for the banks with regard to that broken program. __________________ http://avatarbizarre.wordpress.com

09-12-2012, 09:38 PM	#8 (permalink)
Kalel I'm not Here! hypnotized Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Miami Posts: 861 My Mood: SL Join Date: 1/25/2006 Business: looking for fresh start.. Client: Singularity	I don't know or understand much but we are also in a smilar situation and it seems like each day i get another story... My mom has refinanced 2-3 times so she can attempt pay for the mortgage using her paycheck alone. But we encounter the same issue of them saying she makes too much money.. she applied for HAMP and also tried NACA. What makes it alittle more trickier for her is that my father decided to take an early retirement and went back to live jamaica so he is not here to sign certain documents The house for some reason was put under his name and my mom was also telling me about some how he managed to pull out a second mortgage without her acknowledge which he had used to send money to his sister who wouldn't get a job and himself who had lost his job without telling us... He said he would go back and restart his farm to send us money back but jamaican system has changed allot and he is not the type to think about everything he needs... hes already used up the money he was going to retire with fixing the house he wouldn't sell...it's as if he is looking at another world, another plane of existence....he was very religious type as well.. can't understand why my mom puts up with him.. or even married him in the first place.. our house has been in foreclosure before... wouldn't be surprised if it is now.. but she isn't telling me. My mom got her current house in miami though bank of america 20 years ago...i grew up here so this is the only house I've known.. i'm doing everything i can to help her pay her other bills,get food,etc etc..but I've got my own debt to worry about and a life that is waiting for me to move on... Yet i really don't want to leave her in this situation... Also to add the constant reminder from her that she knows i will leave eventually and doesn't mind cause she doing this for her kids and herself... __________________ "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." -- Lawrence Peter Berra Last edited by Kalel; 09-12-2012 at 09:46 PM.

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09-12-2012, 11:42 AM	#3 (permalink)
Zaida Gearbox Senior Member I finally got it all together, but now I forget where I put it. Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Steelhead, Winterfell, New Babbage Posts: 3,754	Fortunately, my step-mom has her mortgage through a credit union. So, when my dad died and she needed to modify it went smooth as glass.

09-12-2012, 12:45 PM	#4 (permalink)
Amity Slade Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 3,022 Scrabble Blast Champion!	Though the article I cited places the blame on banks- and they deserve blame for being liars and cheaters robbing families of their homes- let's give credit where credit is due. HAMP was supposed to be one of the centerpieces to Obama's plan to help struggling families through the economic crisis. The law for which he asked, and a Democrat-controlled Congress gave him, had no enforcement mechanisms. And the Obama Administration has been shoveling out money to big banks without any sort of oversight to make sure the banks are doing their part. This is one reason I do not get overly excited about the suggestion that Obama and the Democratic Party are great defenders of the poor.

09-12-2012, 07:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
Jack Belvedere not bettman Jack, by Mabb Dilweg Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Heaven Posts: 2,159 SL Join Date: 12/14/2004 Business: GOHA Ice Hockey/Jericho Hill Client: Illegal Means Blog Entries: 1	I totally feel for ya, Sredni. We just went through it too, with fucking Wells Fargo. When I got sick and couldn't work for the unforeseeable future, we tried to get them to tack a few payments to the end of the loan while we reorganized here and got through the crisis. Nope. Didn't qualify for anything, after attempts at them and the government program, so we finally let it foreclose. It took 2 years because of the mortgage lawsuits going on. I even told them at one point, Look, you don't WANT this house. Bad roof, older than God, bad electrical, it's falling apart. We want to keep it, can we just have even two payments deferred? Nope. So they have the lemon, and good luck selling it, and we are living in a fantastic home we all love, a renter's paradise. Things may look bleak at times, but keep your chin up and realize it really isn't the end of the world, and chances are you're going to be a lot less stressed once it's done and you're settled again without the stress of dealing with banks that treat you like you're vermin.

09-12-2012, 10:55 PM	#9 (permalink)
Lord Abnormally Normal I Don't Really Exist Do I ? Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,220 My Mood: Client: I try all of them, but for everyday use it's Cool VL Viewer.	Read this book: AFTERSHOCK : Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown \| Home . It is grim, and most likely the 'worst case scenarios' in it won't play out, but, in my opinion, we are far from ending our economic freefall. Part of this is already playing out in my community...just in the past month the County Board of Commisioners approved of the idea of asking for a 25% increase in property taxes, just to cover the costs of running a county on decimated property tax value digests. We all know that regardless of who is elected President, income taxes and sales taxes are going to go back up eventually, even though many, even in government jobs, haven't received in the past 4 years., and aren't going to receive anytime in the near future, an increase in pay (and get patronisingly told they should be thankful they have a job at all). I had my house foreclosed on at the beginning of the whole foreclosure bubble. I was stupid. My wife and I had nice jobs and we both thought it would just continue to get better. Then, in a downsizing move, I lost my job, and had to settle for a lower paying job. About a year later, my wife had an on-the-job accident that cost her a career and made her permanently disabled. We could no longer make mortgage payments and pay the utilities, food, clothing, etc for a family of four. We tried asking for refinance, couldn't get it. We tried to short-sell the home, no one was interested. So, the finance company eventually foreclosed on us. I vowed I would never go into debt again for a house (or a car) again. We rented for a while, put away what we could, and took a settlement for my wife's injuries from her former employer, and bought outright a home. It was the best move we ever made. It isn't as nice a home as the one we were paying a mortgage on, but it's ours, and even if the economy takes yet another slump, we won't be paying rent or mortgage, just taxes, on it. It's a very liberating feeling knowing you are out from under that (and yes, we outright own our cars now, too ).

09-13-2012, 11:00 PM	#11 (permalink)
Sredni Eel Lizard of Speed and Time *SLU Supporter* RAR, dammit! Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Nobuddy cumz in here. Sekrit. Posts: 6,396 My Mood: SL Join Date: Sept. 2007 Business: Avatar Bizarre Client: Crash-o-Matic 2.0 Blog Entries: 25	The really fun thing regarding my situation is the starting bid for the auction coming up in November is $256K. Comparable places in this building that are actually in good shape, are going for $160K. Our place, with the damage the neighbors caused, as well as the fact that we never had money for basic maintenance, is probably worth way less than the county tax assessed value of $139K. There is no way Ocwen is going to get what they want for this place. Not unless P.T. Barnum was right.

09-14-2012, 05:45 AM	#12 (permalink)
Jack Belvedere not bettman Jack, by Mabb Dilweg Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Heaven Posts: 2,159 SL Join Date: 12/14/2004 Business: GOHA Ice Hockey/Jericho Hill Client: Illegal Means Blog Entries: 1	Yeah, initially you think the word "failure" a lot, no matter what the circumstances, because most of us are raised with the teachings to pay your bills, shelter your family, etc. but eventually you realize it's not always circumstances you have control over. And also that you attempted to resolve, and they just don't want to. I remember another time trying to work with wells Fargo on it when they double-billed us for a month. They wouldn't admit their error, even when I had my bank fax them statements of them taking two payments that month.

09-14-2012, 06:01 PM	#13 (permalink)
Sredni Eel Lizard of Speed and Time *SLU Supporter* RAR, dammit! Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Nobuddy cumz in here. Sekrit. Posts: 6,396 My Mood: SL Join Date: Sept. 2007 Business: Avatar Bizarre Client: Crash-o-Matic 2.0 Blog Entries: 25	Fuck Wells Fargo hard with pointy sticks. Seriously. I had a checking account with them, and always managed to keep the account over a certain limit so I wouldn't be charged for not having enough money in the bank (!!!?!??!). I had a debit card with them. I could use this debit card to get money and pay for things. It was a pretty good deal until... There was a day when the ATM in the Bank's actual wall decided to eat my card. I went inside to ask them how I could retrieve my card, or otherwise get a new one. Their response was to immediately lock my account so not only would I have to wait 10-14 days for a new debit card, but I couldn't even go up to a teller and withdraw money. Nor could I write a check for money. I was screwed for those two weeks. I had to get a loan from my mom so I could buy gas and food that week. As soon as I got my next paycheck, I opened an account with USAA, then withdrew ALL of what was left in the Wells Fargo account. I actually insisted that they electronically transfer everything to USAA. But they refused, and kept insisting that I keep my account with them. I finally started yelling and demanded a money order made out to USAA, so I could send it to my shiny new credit union. I had to talk to a teller, a supervisor, and a manager before they'd allow me to close my account, and I told them exactly where they could stick their terrible customer service and their rotten policies. I hate them almost as much as I hate BofA. Almost. BofA actually treated me worse, if you can believe it.

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